The NFL draft is now 2 weeks over with and teams are for the most part done tuning up their rosters for the upcoming season. As a Miami Dolphins fan, I like what they have done this offseason and in the draft upgrading their roster. The rest of the teams in the AFC East made some good moves and also let other players go for various reasons. With the NFL in the dog days of the offseason, I’m checking how the AFC East is shaping post-draft.
I’ll start with the defending AFC East champions New England Patriots. The Patriots have been the kings of the division for the last 20 years with head coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, but now for the first time in 20 years, Brady is gone as he and the team parted ways. The Patriots didn’t make any significant addition at quarterback outside of journeyman Brian Hoyer so they are putting their trust in 2nd-year man Jarrett Stidham. Nobody knows what to expect from the 2nd year signal caller because he hasn’t played any meaningful snaps. Belichick obviously has a lot of confidence in him since he didn’t draft a quarterback or bring in anyone other than Hoyer. That could change before the season. The rest of the team took hits in free agency losing players like Kyle Van Noy, Danny Shelton, Jamie Collins, and others. However, the Patriots are used to this because they lose players year after year and replace those players with other players that will fit their system especially on defense which is where most of their losses were this offseason. Their front seven is in particularly going to look different, but they do have most of their secondary returning in Stephon Gilmore, Devin McCourty, and others so they will be strong against good passing teams. The question is how will their front seven looks with all of the changes? On offense, outside of Brady, it’s pretty much the same cast of players. The Patriots didn’t upgrade their wide receiver talent, but they have their offensive line and running backs returning. The line is definitely the key especially with the return of David Andrews. The question is can they score enough points and is Stidham up for the challenge? The Patriots have more questions about their team than ever before.
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The Buffalo Bills seem to be everybody’s favorite to overtake the Patriots and take the division. I get it they made the playoffs last year and made great strides last year with their defense and a mistake-free offense. The problem with the Bills was they didn’t score a lot of points in games and that hurt them against better teams. They scored 20 or more points 7 times last year and that won’t cut it. They are banking on Josh Allen taking a big step this year. Allen provides a lot of excitement with his powerful arm and mobility, but he is inaccurate and with him running a lot he leaves himself susceptible to taking hits. The Bills added Steph Diggs as their number one receiver to compliment John Brown and Cole Beasley. The question is will he and Diggs have good chemistry? Diggs had issues with Kirk Cousins in Minnesota and he was very vocal about his problems. If they don’t hit it off will things repeat themselves? The defense is very strong and the reason for the Bills success. They did lose Jordan Phillips and Shaq Lawson only to replace them with Mario Addison and Quinton Jefferson. They also added Josh Norman who is on the back nine of his career and hasn’t played well since leaving the Carolina Panthers so will he regain that form in a familiar defense? The other thing is last year nobody had any expectations for the Bills and they surprised everybody. This year they won’t sneak up on anybody and can they handle the expectations especially with 4 prime time games on their schedule?
Last year the New York Jets had high expectations and expected to contend for the division. They signed free agents LeVeon Bell and CJ Mosley. They hired quarterback whisper coach Adam Gase to help coach up 2nd-year quarterback Sam Darnold. However, the season was a disaster from the start with the Jets. They started 1-7 and had so many injuries especially losing Darnold for 4 games to Mono and Mosley for the whole season basically with a groin injury. Bell had a career-worst year. A lot of things went wrong for the Jets. However, the Jets finished the season strong to finish 7-9. This offseason they were pretty quiet for the most part but did add some offensive lineman to help protect Darnold and open holes for Bell. In the draft, with the 11th pick, they took talented offensive tackle Mekhi Becton to continue to shore up their offensive line. The Jets lost wide receiver Robby Anderson to free agency, but in a receiver deep draft they took Denzel Mims in the 2nd round and some folks felt he would go in the first round. The Jets were very quiet this offseason, but with the Jets upgrading their offensive line the hope is Darnold will take a step forward. On defense, the Jets will have Mosley and Jamal Adams returning. With defensive coordinator Greg Williams running the defense the Jets should be tough with his schemes and blitz packages. Williams is one of the better defensive coordinators in the business so you have to roll up your sleeves when you play against his defense. The Jets should be a better team this year.
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Then there’s the Dolphins who started the season last 0-7 and looking like they wouldn’t win a game last year with the team rebuilding and looking towards the future. However, head coach Brian Flores and his staff coached this team up and they won 5 of their last 9 games including a win over the Patriots in Foxborough to keep them from earning a first-round bye in the playoffs. The Dolphins were the least talented team in the league. They were especially poor on the offensive and defensive fronts. This offseason the Dolphins made a commitment to upgrading their offensive line and front seven on defense. One the offensive line, the Dolphins signed Erik Flowers and Ted Karras in free agency. Then in the draft picked players like Austin Jackson, Robert Hunt, and Solomon Kindley. The Dolphins should be much stronger on the offensive line. On defense, they added Lawson, Van Noy, and Emmanuel Ogbah. Then in the draft, just like the offensive line, the Dolphins added multiple players in Raekwon Davis, Jason Strowbridge, and Curtis Weaver. The goal for the Dolphins was to get stronger in the trenches and seem to be on their way, but the Dolphins needed to draft a potential franchise quarterback and they did in Tua Tagovailoa. Tagovailoa is coming off and dislocated hip and probably will redshirt this year so he will probably more for 2021. The Dolphins will be better but might be another year towards contending.
The AFC East is no question more wide open than it has been in the last 20 years, but like every year you never know what could happen. Stidham could be the next quarterback ready to lead the Patriots to prominence. That seems unlikely, but that’s why they play the game. The early favorites appear to be the Bills because of the talent they have on their roster and the fact that they made the playoffs. However this year there they won’t sneak up on people and the expectations will be high can they live up to them especially with a tougher schedule? The Jets had a nice offensive line and quietly upgraded their team. Could they surprise everyone in the division especially if Darnold takes another step? The Dolphins will come down to how quickly the younger players progress. The Dolphins are in year two of their rebuilding and with only one player over 30 on their team, there will be some growing pains. Even if they aren’t ready to contend in the division they could be tough on the other teams in the division. The Bills are everyone’s favorite it seems to win the division, but don’t underestimate everyone else in the division.
Don’t crown the Bills yet. J. Allen is inaccurate and the Phins secondary could be the strength of the team.
That could spell trouble for Bills in week 2. The last game of the year vs Buffs will probably have significance in the wild card race one way or another. If Phins can run the ball, they have a chance. I bet it is windy and cold as heck, an air raid game is not going to work in that case. Otherwise, Bills D alone probably gets them 7-8 wins. I think the Pats crash this year and the “mystique” of the Patriot way is gonzo when Brady left. Jets ? I think they had a good draft, played well second half of year going 6-2.
They could surprise, but I hope “surprised eyes” Gase trips up and has locker room issues with Bell, Adams, and others, Arnold sees “ghosts” again and Gase is fired. So, it will be Bills and Phins like the old days scrambling up at the top of the division. Bills probably better on paper right now, but paper is nada .